Show me Thy ways, O LORD; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.
—Psalm 25:4-5
I spoke of an army entering an enemy’s territories. The answer to the question as to the cause of delay was: “waiting for supplies.” The answer might also have been: “waiting for instructions,” or “waiting for orders.” If the last dispatch had not been received, with the final orders of the commander, the army dared not move. It is even so in the Christian life—as deep as the need of waiting for supplies is that of waiting for instructions.
See how beautifully this comes out in Psalm 25. The writer knew and loved God’s laws exceedingly, and he meditated in that law day and night. But, this was not enough. He knew that for the right spiritual understanding of the truth, and for the right personal application of it to his own particular circumstances, he needed a direct, divine teaching.
The psalm has at all times been a very special one because of its reiterated expression of the felt need of the divine teaching and of the childlike confidence that that teaching would be given. Study the psalm until your heart is filled with the two thoughts: the absolute need and the absolute certainty of divine guidance. And with these, how entirely it is in this connection that he speaks, “On Thee do I wait all the day.” Waiting for guidance, waiting for instruction, is a very blessed part of waiting upon God.
The special surrender to the divine guidance in our seasons of prayer must cultivate, and be followed up by, the habitual looking upward “all the day.” As simple as it is to walk all day in the light of the sun, so simple can it become to a soul, practiced in waiting on God, to walk all day in the enjoyment of God’s leading. What is needed to help us to such a life is just one thing: the real knowledge and faith of God as an every ready source of wisdom and goodness, longing much to be to us all that we can possibly require. If we only believed that He waits to be gracious, that He waits to be our life and to work in us—how this waiting on God would become our highest joy, the natural and spontaneous response of our hearts to His great love!